From social politeness ("please", "thank you", etc) to the technical Japanese grammatical concepts of honorifics and respectful and humble forms known as "keigo".
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147 views
How important is gendered language in reality? [closed]
Many people say that gendered language is especially important in Japanese. To a point, I can understand this, but only to a certain distance. For example, if I (Fe/male) were to say 'Wow, that show ...
11
votes
3answers
241 views
Addressing a friend's parents when meeting them for the first time
I have met the parents of a close Japanese friend two times in my life and have never been sure how I should address them. Both times I've asked the friend beforehand but never got a satisfactory ...
3
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1answer
147 views
With whom to use different honorific forms? 丁寧語より尊敬語・謙譲語・丁重語
With whom is it considered proper to use 尊敬語・謙譲語・丁重語 instead of 丁寧語?
I mean saying おいでになります・伺います・参ります instead of 行きます.
The often given example is for a service-person speaking with a customer, but ...
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1answer
149 views
What is the etymology of 〜ません（でした）?
I have always been interested in the negative polite (〜ません) and negative past-polite (〜ませんでした) inflections of verbs.
My understanding is that ます is an inflectable function word (助動詞), so I'm ...
3
votes
3answers
345 views
Polite way of asking if someone's received an email
What's a polite way of asking in an email if you've received a previous email?
In my case, "polite" means "I'm emailing the tourism information staff of a place that mainly deals with domestic ...
6
votes
1answer
194 views
“If I may ask a question, …”
Our teacher taught us to ask for the permission to ask a question by saying「質問してもいいですか。」. Now I'm writing her an email, and would like to say something along the lines of "If I may ask a question, ...
3
votes
1answer
159 views
When speaking with client, how to say “I will tell my coworker”
I have found this in a phone usage manual (電話対応マニュアル) written by a Japanese person:
かしこまりました。必ず田中に申し伝えます。それでは失礼いたします。
(speaking to customer over the phone) Understood. I will tell Tanaka (my ...
3
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1answer
109 views
Politeness level congruency
This question comes from observing a game show, where the participants have to match a product to the one they consume while blindfolded. They are only allowed to try one product at a time from the ...
9
votes
2answers
189 views
Politeness on Twitter
I tweet in Japanese every once in awhile, sometimes to Japanese people and sometimes to all of my followers.
I haven't really been able to figure it out, so how does politeness work on Twitter? Some ...
3
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1answer
145 views
How would I respectfully disagree with a peer?
This is probably related to How would I respectfully disagree with a superior? however the context is a tech forum where the thread starter is asking for someone technically advanced to help, and the ...
4
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1answer
202 views
When should the polite form of 〜たり be used?
I've noticed that I don't see 〜ましたり used very often, but it does seem to be an accepted form. I believe this form can be broken down like this: 動詞{どうし}の連用形{れんようけい}＋「ます」の連用形{れんようけい}＋「たり」
My ...
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1answer
151 views
Is it actually impolite to say ご苦労様 to a superior?
Conventional ビジネスマナー tells us that ご苦労様 is used by superiors to subordinates and お疲れ様 used by everyone, and this is backed up all over the internet and stated on some questions here, like this.
But ...
11
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1answer
167 views
Should I say 失礼{しつれい}します before hanging up the phone if the other person called me?
Phone etiquette is one of those things I still struggle with at times, often fumbling because I'm not sure what expression I'm supposed to use at a given time. 失礼します at the end of a phone call is one ...
5
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1answer
207 views
How should I bid farewell to a superior?
My boss is leaving soon after years of service. What would be a good way for me to express my gratitude for all of his guidance and help?
I am somewhat familiar with the expression お世話になりました but am ...
6
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1answer
280 views
Difference in nuance between 頂ければと思います, 頂けませんか, and 頂きたいんですけども
I've recently started using the expression 頂ければと思います, but I'm not 100% sure about its precise nuance.
Is there any difference in nuance between
頂ければと思います
頂けませんか
頂きたいんですけども?
To my non-native ear, ...
4
votes
2answers
185 views
Difference in word use: 父親 母親 両親 父母
I would like to ask about the following words: 父親【ちちおや】 and 母親【ははおや】. They refer to father and mother, right? But why do they exist? When do we use them instead of お父【とう】さん and お母【かあ】さん?
I have a ...
7
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1answer
143 views
Situational acceptability of politeness and/or honorific use
Consider:
I am expected to use polite forms when speaking to someone socially above me. Let's take for example, a teacher.
If our relationship improves, and it becomes permissible for me to speak ...
6
votes
2answers
212 views
Addressing children in Japanese
Apologies for the very vague question. I'm unsure of how I'm supposed to address and talk to children - I imagine it varies a little depending on the social situation, and in general I should avoid ...
7
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2answers
189 views
Polite form of ～っけ
In my everyday conversations when trying to confirm an understanding or recall a piece of information I am sure I had heard before, I often use （そう）だっけ、だったっけ、and でしたっけ when speaking to equals or 目下の人。 ...
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vote
1answer
219 views
Japanese small-talk [closed]
As long as the conversation I'm having, follows the chapters in Genki I & II I'm sort of OK but as soon as I try to engage in some small-talk I'm lost!
Sentences like
ロバートさんは, どんなスポーツが好きですか
...
5
votes
2answers
278 views
How do you say “I don't want to fail” in Japanese? The formal form of it?
I'm asking how do you say something like "I don't want to fail" in Japanese. Yes, in anime they say something like "makenai". But I want to say or write it like an actual Japanese sentence in the ...
6
votes
1answer
129 views
referring to children: 子, 子供, or お子さん?
This is an issue that came up with my host family quite often. I have never been quite clear on which to use. In particular, 子 seems somewhat rude (much to the same effect as 男 or 女). On the other ...
8
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2answers
261 views
How to answer someone else's phone?
I am in a Japanese office setup sitting next to my boss. He often gets phone calls but most of the time he is not in his seat. How do I answer his phone say that "This is Mr. XX's seat and this is YY ...
7
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1answer
171 views
Why would you use まいります for rain? (降ってまいります)
I ran across this example sentence in a basic dictionary, but I can't figure out what particular meaning まいります has in this context.
雨が降ってまいりました。
Generally speaking, it's used as the humble verb ...
2
votes
1answer
304 views
List of suppletive honorific and humble forms
Is there a reference that lists words whose honorific and/or humble forms are suppletive?
For nouns, I am supposing that 父親, 父, and お父さん are different forms of a single noun differing only with ...
3
votes
1answer
190 views
Polite speech and うち よそ
I can't understand the difference between うち and よそ. I learned that they are used in polite speech, for example:
╔════════╦═════════╦═════════════╗
║ ║ うち ║ よそ ║
...
7
votes
3answers
851 views
Address someone by their first name, or their last name?
When addressing John Doe, would you say "John-さん", or "Doe-さん"?
Does it depend on how polite or formal you're being? Does it also depend on whether the person is a nihonjin, a kankokujin (who have ...
7
votes
1answer
163 views
Is it OK to keep saying ありがとう
I was asking a Japanese person for some help and noticed that I kept saying ありがとうございます over and over as they helped me more. Culturally, is it OK to keep saying it multiple times in Japanese? Would it ...
2
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1answer
114 views
Difference between 「来ませんでした」and「来なかったです」 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is じゃないです equally correct as じゃありません?
Both have the same meaning ("did not come") and according to my Japanese co-workers both are acceptable while they can't define the ...
6
votes
2answers
508 views
Is it natural to call elderly men ojiisan?
Is ojiisan an idiomatic word choice for a chronologically gifted man, akin to obaasan for elderly women? For example, when giving your seat to them on the train.
3
votes
3answers
491 views
When to use ご返事 and お返事?
Here is a discussion about whether to use ご返事 and お返事, but there seems to be diverging opinions:
ご返事:
ご返事 is 謙譲語 (according to No.1)
ご返事 is seldom used for 尊敬語 (according to No.5)
ご返事 is for 謙譲語 ...
7
votes
3answers
229 views
When should 男の人/女の人 be used instead of 男/女?
My teacher always corrects me when I use 男 or 女 by themselves, without adding の人 to the end of it. But in various Japanese media (music, drama, anime, etc.), I know for sure that I have heard them ...
3
votes
2answers
266 views
Is こんばんは too formal for everyday conversation?
When giving a talk on Japanese, How to talk like a ge1sha, I made a terrible mistake: I invited someone who knew something about the language along.
The only times he heckled me was when he reckoned ...
2
votes
2answers
294 views
General rules in negative adjectives in superpolite form
I have trouble trying to find this specific grammar in text books.
I have a negative adjective in polite form:
寒くないです
I want to use the superpolite form:
寒くないございます
That seems right, but I have ...
13
votes
1answer
248 views
Politeness in examination questions
1) Why do Japanese school examination questions get more rude as the year gets higher?
In elementary school
...してください。
or
...しましょう。 ... です。 ...ですか。
In junior high school to high school
...
6
votes
1answer
331 views
Was desu and masu originally geisha-speak?
Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo (The Japanese language the Japanese people don't know) seems to be claiming, at around 6:20 of this YouTube clip of language-specific portions of episode 4 of the show, ...
4
votes
2answers
250 views
In customer settings, is it ok to ask for keigo to be repeated in more “normal” Japanese?
In the context of restaurants, convenience stores and similar situations, is it ok for a customer to ask for something that was said in keigo (or in manual keigo) to be repeated in more "normal" ...
4
votes
1answer
192 views
Making a sentence that ends in なかった polite
What are the different ways to make a sentence that ends in なかった polite?
4
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2answers
296 views
Does anyone know which おり this is?
彼女は表情が生き生きとしておりとてもかわいい。
was translated awkwardly on ALC as
She is very pretty for the liveliness of her expression.
Which おり is this? I think I know it from the polite しております but is it here ...
10
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2answers
336 views
Why is the honorific o used for the bathroom?
I've seen the honorific "o"/"go" (is it called bikago?) being used as politness or reverence: o-cha for non-western tea, o-namae when talking about someone else's name, o-genki instead of just genki, ...
9
votes
1answer
271 views
When to use 頂戴します instead of いただきます?
In rather formal situations, when would you use 頂戴します ?
I use いただきます all the time to express the fact of receiving something, but I just heard a colleague using 頂戴します over the phone.
If I understand ...
6
votes
1answer
580 views
What is proper letter ending greeting for a letter to a teacher?
In Chinese letter writing there is a phrase "教祺" that can be roughly translated as "good luck in teaching" and is used exclusively in the letter ending greeting. Is there a counterpart in Japanese ...
5
votes
1answer
109 views
Is the regular form of verbs with irregular polite/honorific forms still grammatical?
Hi all I was wondering for verbs with irregular polite/honorific forms, is the regular form still used/grammatical ?
For example, the humble form of 借りる is 拝借する. But would お借りする be acceptable ?
...
6
votes
3answers
786 views
How is it possible that kisama is more refined than temee?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_differences_in_spoken_Japanese claims that kisama is "more refined than temee".
However I've always thought that kisama is so-called the "worst" level (in other ...
5
votes
1answer
115 views
ご無沙汰いたしました — OK for electronic communications?
In a recent comment exchange on ELU.SE, a Japanese man (my senior in years, and a "guest" in the forum whose questions I had answered regularly for some time, but not much lately as I have been ...
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2answers
572 views
何歳 , いくつ ,年齢 , ご年
何歳ですか？
いくつですか？
年齢は？
お年は？
I think all are question sentences of "How old are you?" which are they differ?what are most poilte form??
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3answers
375 views
is it offensive to say あなた?
My teacher says that we should avoid あなた, like わたし, which could be taken off. Following this, I try to refer to the second person by the name: 加藤さんの趣味は何ですか. But there are situations where we forget ...
7
votes
1answer
211 views
When is it appropriate to use [v] ないでくれ instead of [v] な?
Initially I wanted to compare the rudeness level of [v]ないでくれ。 and[v]な。 but since that may be a rather vague question:
In what situation is it appropriate to use [v]ないでくれ。 but not [v]な。 ?
In what ...
12
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3answers
834 views
When to use 欲しがる instead of 欲しい
When does one use 欲しがる instead of 欲しい? For example, in phrases like:
先生は野菜を食べて欲し｛いです・がっています｝。
My incomplete understanding is that the がる form is more formal/polite, but it can only be used ...
7
votes
2answers
245 views
Is 見物{みもの} derogatory?
To say something is a 見物, does it have a derogatory nuance like we are making fun of that person / that thing?
If so, is it derogatory to the extent that even if I intended it as a fun joke it seems ...
